Nurses in the Plymouth face losing out on the paltry 1% pay rise this year, as healthcare staff working for Livewell are still yet to receive confirmation that the NHS pay rise will apply to their pay packets – despite providing identical NHS services. This is not the first time that staff working for Livewell Soutwest have been left out of NHS pay rises.
Labour and Co-operative MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, Luke Pollard, has written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock to demand the nurses and healthcare staff working for Livewell Southwest get the minimum 1% pay rise, in line with other healthcare staff working for the NHS. Luke has previously secured a pay rise for Livewell staff when the Government left them out of the last NHS pay rise, and then again when Ministers left Livewell staff out of the the uplift in pensions.
The omission of Livewell Southwest nurses adds to widespread controversy surrounding the proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff, which is a real terms pay cut when inflation is taken into account. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has described the 1% figure as “pitiful,” whilst trade union body TUC described it as “a real terms pay cut” and a “hammer blow to morale.”
Commenting on this Luke Pollard said:
“The 1% for NHS nurses is an insult as it is a real terms pay cut, but Livewell staff face getting not a penny more because Ministers have left them out again. Having raised the omission of social enterprises from pay settlements in the past, and won a pay rise for them, why are Ministers not learning from their mistakes?
“All of Plymouth’s healthcare staff have given so much for us over the course of the pandemic, they deserve a proper pay rise.”
Figures show that on average, UK nurses will earn £2,500 less in real terms than they did in 2010 – even with the proposed 1% rise.
Mr Pollard is working with trade unions representing Livewell staff to seek clarification that the pay rise will be paid to Livewell staff.